484 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



vailed in the lumber industry, wild- 

 fires for which it was responsible 

 which made up 2 percent of the same 

 prewar total dropped 18 percent. 



It is encouraging to see such Nation- 

 wide decreases as 50 percent in the 

 number of wildfires started during the 

 war by careless campers and 29 per- 

 cent in the number for which smokers 

 were responsible. Encouraging, too, are 

 the wartime records of States like 

 Washington and Virginia, particu- 

 larly when compared with what hap- 

 pened in California, for instance. In 

 California an increase of 23 percent in 

 civilian population was accompanied 

 by an increase of 4 percent in the num- 

 ber of man-caused wildfires. But in 

 Washington and Virginia, increases of 

 18 and 5 percent, respectively, in ci- 

 vilian population were accompanied by 

 wildfire decreases of 22 and 39 percent. 



The war ended. The fighters re- 

 turned. Tanks could be filled with gaso- 

 line again. Once more the open road 

 beckoned. The trek to fields and for- 

 ests was in full swing by the summer 

 of 1946. Before the snow fell, the num- 

 ber of man-made wildfires again had 

 started to climb. The climb was only 2 

 percent Nation-wide, to be sure, but 

 enough to be an ominous warning of 

 what can happen if we are careless. 



WE KNOW THE HEART of the prob- 

 lem is that 90 percent of all wildfires 

 are still caused by people ; that most of 

 these wildfires are due to carelessness; 

 that they are started by travelers, 

 smokers, campers, hunters, fishermen, 

 farmers men, women, and children, 

 average Americans who live in or near 

 forests and fields, who work in or near 

 them, or who visit them by all of us. 



We also know that these fires can be 

 stopped before they start if each one 

 of us does his part instead of leaving 

 the job to the other fellow. 



It was in that frame of mind that 

 citizens of California approached their 

 wildfire problem in the early spring of 

 1947. And although both population 

 and the number of man-made outdoor 

 fires had gone higher in 1946 than the 



wartime average for the State, progress 

 was made before rains began in the fall 

 of 1947, and continued through 1948. 



According to State Forester DeWitt 

 Nelson, Californians achieved a 28- 

 percent drop from the 1946 number 

 in their man-made wildfires. Even 

 more noteworthy was a reduction of 

 50 percent in one county, Sonoma, 

 where 498 active fire-prevention volun- 

 teers were recruited by the Central So- 

 noma County Chapter of the American 

 Red Cross, acting in response to re- 

 quests from officials of the State Divi- 

 sion of Forestry. 



What was done in Sonoma County 

 indicates some of the things that may 

 be done in other years and other places. 

 Here are highlights from a report to 

 the Chapter Chairman telling who the 

 volunteers were and what they did. 



Every volunteer, says the report, is 

 a busy businessman or woman whose 

 name is listed in classified sections of 

 local telephone directories. Among 

 these volunteers who gave willingly 

 of their time through a desire to help 

 their own communities and their own 

 county were agricultural-implement 

 dealers and auto-court owners; work- 

 ers in banks and building and loan as- 

 sociations; barbers and book sellers; 

 librarians; employees of public utili- 

 ties, service stations, and sporting-goods 

 stores; and members of women's clubs. 



Among the outstanding volunteers, 

 the report cites bank managers who 

 enclosed "Smokey Bear" bookmarks 

 with monthly statements to depositors ; 

 managers of sporting-goods stores who 

 attached to each hunting and fishing 

 license they issued a card with pithy 

 suggestions about careful use and dis- 

 posal of matches, cigarettes, and camp- 

 fires; and owners of auto courts who 

 kept fire-prevention blotters on desks 

 or tables in each unit, and displayed 

 posters on back walls of garages where 

 they were in plain view of arriving and 

 departing motorists. 



It seems improbable that an educa- 

 tional set-up like the one in Sonoma 

 County can do the whole job of pre- 

 venting man-made wildfires. Also nee- 



